Give students free condoms - MP

Mr. Charles Hodogbey, MP for North Tongu on Friday suggested that government makes condoms available to students from the Junior Secondary School to the University levels to check the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Recalling his days of community work in Chicago, USA, Mr Hodogbey said condoms could be placed at vantage points in the schools campuses where students could have free access to them.

Mr. Hodogbey made the suggestion in a contribution in Parliament on a statement by Mrs. Gifty Eugenia Kusi, MP for Tarkwa Nsuaem on "HIV/AIDS and Poverty- the African Woman's Bane.

Mrs. Kusi had said in the statement that poverty was pushing young women on the African Continent to indulge in illicit activities such as prostitution for sustenance, and in the process exposed them to all sorts of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

Mrs. Kusi said there was a rise in HIVAIDS cases, and said at a recent Commonwealth Women's Parliament seminar on Women's Health, Poverty and HIV/AIDS, seminar, the women fought for the cause to intensify the education of the Ghanaian populace and fellow MP's on the dangers and effects of the pandemic.

She also noted that maternal mortality rates had been aggravated by the high incidence of HIV/AIDS, and recommended that the Ghana Health Service come out with a policy or legislation to make maternal death one of the notifiable events.

Mr Hodogbey in his contribution supported a mandatory test for HIV/AIDS for people entering into marriage, establishment of a research institution, and a dedicated HIV/AIDS clinic.

Ms Akua Sena Dansua urged men to be more interested in discussing issues on women that dealt with HIV/AIDS. She regretted that even men in Parliament were not so keen in taking part in discussion on the subject.

Ms Cecilia Obeng Dapaah, Deputy Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, called for sympathy and good for people living with AIDS, adding, " Your infected wife or husband who has HIV/AIDS, is a still your husband or wife; your son or daughter who has HIV/ AIDS is still your child."